Civilization and Barbarism: Urban Elites and the Rural Poor in the Revolt of the Guatemalan Montaña

The prevailing consensus in Guatemalan historiography holds that the revolt of the Montaña, which was led in 1837 by the swineherd Rafael Carrera and which shattered forever the unity of the United Provinces of Central America, resulted from an alliance of Conservatives and reactionary peasants angered by the Liberal reforms of the era. This paper will argue that the hot issues of contention between elite Conservatives and Liberals were unimportant to the rural people who supported Carrera. Instead, the common assumptions and attitudes shared by the two ideological factions, based largely on Physiocratic principles, contradicted with the passionate aspirations of the rebels, which were closely tied to the defense and continuation of their traditional landholding communities.